Support Growing in All Corners for Prop 1

Proposition 1 provides relief at the “Y” in Oak Hill. From the Oak Hill Gazette…

Beki Halpin told the Gazette: “Proposition 1 offers Oak Hill a real opportunity to get something done to address the congestion at the ‘Y.’ We have been sent to the end of the line over and over again and now we have a chance to get something done in the next couple of years. It is impossible to know when the elevated toll road will be built, if ever. The economic climate is tenuous and highway construction money comes and goes like a mirage in the desert. But this bond money would be something we could count on to bring road improvements we have waited for, wished for and certainly deserved for decades.”

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Local resident Tom Thayer said: “I think [Proposition 1] is definitely good for Oak Hill. It provides money towards near-term intersection improvements on U.S. 290 West here in Oak Hill to hopefully provide some traffic relief before 2017 or whenever highway improvements will come from TxDOT. It provides money for preliminary engineering and planning for capacity expansion on MoPac, on which many Oak Hill residents drive. It also provides money for badly needed sidewalks along Brodie Lane. For bus riders, it will improve pedestrian and transit infrastructure along Guadalupe and Lavaca streets where the Oak Hill Flyer runs.”

Also, not 1 but 7 Mayors of Austin have come out for Proposition 1. From the Statesman…

Mayors Lee Cooke, Gus Garcia, Kirk Watson, Lee Leffingwell, Frank Cooksey, Bruce Todd, and Ron Mullen support Prop 1. Photo credit: Wells Dunbar, Austin Chronicle

Proposition 1, the City of Austin transportation bond proposal that initially generated little attention, in the past month has attracted considerable money for and against it. And today , a phalanx of former Austin mayors called for approval of the $90 million measure.

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Today , the last day of early voting, the push for the proposition picked up endorsements from the seven mayors who preceded current Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, from Ron Mullen in 1983 through Will Wynn, who finished his six years leading the city in 2009. Wynn, who Leffingwell said sent word of his support, was the only one of the seven not on hand for the City Hall announcement.

Support is widespread including drivers, pedestrians, trail goers, and cyclists. From The Daily Texan…

Davis said in a progressive city like Austin, where thousands of people commute to work by bicycle every day, the promise of alternative transportation is very strong.

“When you look at the greater issue, the roads-only approach doesn’t work,” Davis said. “We have to add additional options for getting people around the city.”

Eileen Schaubert, a League of Bicycling Voters board member, said the proposition is historic because it is the first time something significant is being invested in transportation projects other than the development of roads in Austin.

She said while the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 20 years ago, Austin’s sidewalk network is still not compliant.

“We need to complete our pedestrian trails and allow them to be usable by people of all abilities and ages. Our population is getting older and they won’t be able to drive in the same way, and we want them to stay active,” Schubert said.